The introspective art of Mark Twain / Douglas Anderson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Anderson, Douglas, 1950- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910--Criticism and interpretation.

Twain, Mark.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (301 pages) : illustrations (some color)

Place of Publication:

New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.

Summary:

"The Introspective Art of Mark Twain is a major new assessment of a towering American writer. Seeking to trace the development of Mark Twain's imagination, Douglas Anderson begins near the end, with the long dialogue What Is Man? that Twain published anonymously in 1906. In Twain's view, the little-read What Is Man? lies at the heart of his creative life. It is the central aesthetic testament that he employed to tell the story of his artistic evolution. Beginning there, Anderson follow the contours of that story as it unfolds over Twain's career. The portraits that emerges ranges the full length of Twain's writing life, drawing on his autobiographical and travel writings, essays, letters, and little known works, as well as his monumental works of literature, by now deeply embedded in the world literary canon. "Steer by the river in your head," Mark Twain's master pilot, Horace Bixby, once advised him, when the opaque atmosphere of the outer world made it impossible to see the actual Mississippi through which Twain was trying to guide his steamboat. For the purposes of this book, the river in one's head is not a mental construct of the physical world but the riverine networks of consciousness itself: the river that is the mind. The detailed discussions of individual books that structure each chapter are meant to direct the attention of Mark Twain's students and admirers, through inward rather than outward channels, toward a fuller appreciation for his legacy"--Bloomsbury Publishing.

"A new reading of the major themes and concerns of Mark Twain's life and work, tracing the development of his imagination from his earliest works in 1865 to his writings in the early twentieth century"--Bloomsbury Publishing.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note:

List of Illustrations

Preface

List of Abbreviations

Introduction: Thought Experiments

1. Inside Excursions

2. Interest

3. Attention

4. Shadings

Conclusion: Greatnesses in the Brain

Notes

Index.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN:

9781501329586

1501329588

9781501329562

1501329561

OCLC:

958141345